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U.S. business groups criticized the Indian Supreme Court's landmark drug patent ruling, saying it will harm global pharmaceutical innovation. "We recognize the importance of generics to the contribution of health once patents expire, but ... for India to become the innovation nation of the 21st century, it should reward and encourage innovation," U.S.-India Business Council President Ron Somers said. PhRMA spokesman Mark Grayson expressed concerns that the ruling would slow market entry of critically needed new treatments, as development costs sometimes exceed $1 billion.

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The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance has hired Washington, D.C.-based India First Group to boost the generic-drug industry's reputation in the U.S. The first step in the campaign is mobilization of the Coalition for Affordable Care, led by former U.S.-India Business Council President Ron Somers.

U.S. drugmakers want President Barack Obama to tell Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is set to visit the White House today, that pharmaceutical patents are a top priority for the U.S. "They're gradually picking off one cancer drug or AIDS drug after another," Mark Grayson, spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said. "It just continues to show the pattern -- what India's doing in not recognizing innovation, or if they're recognizing innovation, they're taking away the fruits of that innovation." Fourteen governors wrote to Obama this week to raise concerns over India's policies, and deepening divisions between the U.S. and India over trade is expected to be a main focus of the meeting.

India's recent landmark patent ruling correctly sets a high standard for innovative treatments, Cato Institute research fellow Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar writes. The court made it clear that it wasn't opposed to drug patents in general, he writes. PhRMA's Chip Davis called the verdict "another example of what I would characterize as a deteriorating innovation environment in India."

The Indian Supreme Court's ruling against Novartis' attempt to patent cancer drug Gleevec could give poor patients access to affordable drugs while providing an incentive for real innovation, according to this editorial. The ruling will not affect the price of the drug in the U.S. but will authorize the sale of lower-cost generic versions in India and other nations where it doesn't have patent protection. The ruling does not limit all patents for incremental innovation but does encourage drugmakers to demonstrate real improvements in efficacy.

The U.S. Trade Representative's office is reviewing the Indian Supreme Court's drug patent ruling. The agency could address the verdict in its yearly report on intellectual property rights protections, which is expected this month. India has previously been on the report's "priority watch list." "This decision marks yet another example of the deteriorating innovation environment in India," PhRMA CEO John J. Castellani said.